Half a million people spied on a year

"An average of about 1,500 surveillance requests were made every day in Britain last year, according to figures which have emerged from an annual report by commissioner Sir Paul Kennedy.

That is the annual equivalent to one in every 78 adults being targeted." However these requests for surveillance are mostly being used by Local Councils to combat littering, fly-tipping and dog fouling (From BBC News). This is not the first time local councils have been accused of abusing the power they have. These powers were brought in to combat serious crime and terrorism after all, but instead people pursue these things.

In other abuses of power, the Police have been advised to ignore the Human Rights Commitee ruling that they should not keep DNA samples if the person is wrongfully arrested or released without charge. They are currently digging in their heels and getting the Government to prepare legislation to get around this.

As Chris Huhne, Home Affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats states "It is not up to police forces to ignore court judgments because they or their masters do not like them." (Guardian).

UNDERMINED

Do you remember earlier this month it was discovered that in 34 offices of Local government, people had used the CIS database to snoop on local celebrities and their aquaintances?

I think I must have been blinded by yet another instance of a database state failure to mention it at the time (it happened about a week ago). But regardless, it happened and shows the flaws of such a database.

Now it seems that none of the people involved will face prosecution for having breached the Freedom of Information Act and the Data Protection Act. Now, I am not the kind to call for blood, some of these people have lost their jobs as a result and some will have this hanging over them for some time. What I will do is post this on my blog as yet another example of the flaws of the database state (albeit a human one) that would only be exacerbated by the National Identity Scheme.